Acclaimed author Dame Hilary Mantel passed away at 70 on 22 September.
The British writer, widely regarded as one of the best English-language novelists of her time, was responsible for bringing alive the Tudor dynasty for a new generation through her Wolf Hall series.
“It is with great sadness that HarperCollins announces that bestselling author Dame Hilary Mantel DBE died peacefully, surrounded by close family and friends, yesterday,” a statement from her publisher revealed. “Hilary Mantel will always be remembered as a truly original writer. She leaves behind a remarkable body of work which inspire readers around the world.”
The book trilogy, which includes Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror & the Light, has sold more than five million copies worldwide and has been translated into 41 languages.
The first two novels in the series, released respectively in 2009 and 2012, earned the writer the prestigious Booker Prize. The final instalment, released in 2020, became an instant bestseller. It was also royally approved, with the Queen Consort choosing it as one of her Reading Room picks while she was the Duchess of Cornwall.
The Wolf Hall books tell a dramatised story about real-life historical figure Thomas Cromwell and his changing fortunes. Beginning life as the son of a blacksmith, Cromwell rose through the ranks of the Tudor court to become the most powerful advisor of King Henry VIII, only to fall out of favour and meet a gruesome fate.
Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies were serialised by the BBC. The six-part drama starred Mark Rylance as Cromwell, Damian Lewis as Henry VIII and Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn. It first aired in 2015 and was a huge success, receiving eight nominations at the Emmy Awards, winning the gong for Best Miniseries or Television Film. It was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards.
Tributes from all walks of life flooded in for the author following the sad announcement. Harry Potter author JK Rowling said: “We’ve lost a genius.”
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Her brilliant Wolf Hall trilogy was the crowning achievement in an outstanding body of work. Rest in peace.”
Historian, BBC presenter and Joint Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces Lucy Worsley said: ” In 2009, a lady came to a conference we had at Hampton Court, about the life of Henry VIII. She sat quietly at the back, making notes. She was reputed to be a novelist. I did not know then that a goddess was walking among us.”
“The award-winning writer would put in years of research to ensure her books were historically accurate, with her aim being to put the reader in “that time and that place, putting you into Henry’s entourage.”
“The essence of the thing is not to judge with hindsight, not to pass judgement from the lofty perch of the 21st Century when we know what happened,” she told the Guardian. “It’s to be there with them in that hunting party at Wolf Hall, moving forward with imperfect information and perhaps wrong expectations, but in any case, moving forward into a future that is not pre-determined, but where chance and hazard will play a terrific role.”
Dame Hilary was born in Derbyshire in 1952 and studied Law at the London School of Economics and Sheffield University before taking employment as a social worker.
While living in Botswana for five years, she began writing fiction with her geologist husband, Gerald McEwen.
During her career, she penned 17 books, including The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, Vacant Possession, and Every Day is Mother’s Day. She also told her own story in her memoir Giving up the Ghost.
